Baingan ka bharta is officially my new favorite food. Who knew mashed eggplants could be so amazing? Indians, that’s who. Once again, Indian recipes take the mundane and make something marvelous.

My friend recently started teaching me more Indian recipes and this is the first thing we made. I pretty much want to marry it. If you’re looking for an amazing, authentic recipe for baingan ka bharta, look no further. I’ve never been opposed to eggplant recipes in the past but it’s also never been a go-to vegetable in the Bowman house. This stuff is so delicious.

Baingan ka Bharta (Mashed Eggplant) Ingredients

2 eggplants

4 onions

4 tomatoes

several garlic cloves

Spices

salt

turmeric

coriander seeds (or powder)

cumin seeds

fenugreek seeds

dried fenugreek leaves

red chili powder

dried mango powder

masala spice blend (we used chana masala)

First, we give the eggplant a “deep bake”. To do this in a typical Indian kitchen we put the eggplant directly on the gas burner flame set very low. The knife makes it easier to turn.

We want to grill the eggplant until it’s blackened and quite soft. I’m sure it could be baked in a traditional American style oven but then you wouldn’t get that lovely smokey charred flavor that cooking it directly on the flame provides.

Once the eggplant is thoroughly cooked, give it a little chopping and remove the most blackened and burnt bits of skin.

Now, like all good Indian recipes, we put some oil in our pan and begin frying up our spices and the like.

Add a pinch of cumin seeds, coriander seeds, and just a couple of fenugreek seeds to your oil first.

Now add your onions and garlic. Use double the amount of onions to eggplant. We cooked two eggplants on this day so we used four onions. Garlic is to your preference. I say the more the better. Several cloves, at the very least.

Give your onions plenty of time to cook, you want them to be golden brown and for those lovely seeds to get a good frying, as well. While your onions cook, chop up some tomatoes. Also double the amount to your eggplant, so four in this case.

Once your onions are a lovely golden color add your chopped tomatoes and cook them for several minutes until they’re soft.

Now get out your masala (spice) box again!

A spoon of salt (or to your taste).

Two spoons of turmeric.

A pinch of dried fenugreek leaves.

A pinch of red chili powder, if you like a bit of kick.

1/2 a spoon of dried mango powder, if you have that sort of thing lying around.

1 spoon of your favorite Indian spice blend.

Every Indian seems to have their favorite spice blend. Sadly in America we tend to just have the poor option of “curry powder”, which you will not find in all of India.

My friend swears by a mix called Chana Masala and puts it in everything. It is a powdered spice blend that includes coriander seeds, dry mango, salt, cumin, red chilies, kachri, black salt, pomegranate seeds, black pepper, tamarind, dried ginger, mint leaves, cassia, fenugreek leaves, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, and mace. I don’t even know what some of that is, but I know it’s delicious. You can click the image to find it on Amazon.

Now that everything is smelling absolutely amazing, add your eggplant and give it a good mix and mash. Add just a touch of water if needed and let everything simmer together for a bit.

Serve with plain chapati or parantha. I know the finished product doesn’t look like much but oh my goodness at the flavor! No exaggeration, it is one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted in my entire life.

Every week I fall more in love with Indian food. I swear, Indian spices could make dirt taste good. Last month I didn’t know baingan ka bhurta existed. Now I can’t get enough of it.

Egg curry is yet another thing that I didn’t know existed until we came to India. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it on a menu in South Asia but our ayah used to cook it for us and we couldn’t get enough of it.

I love collecting Indian recipes and this boiled egg curry is now in my repertoire. It’s a pretty simple and standard egg masala recipe and, assuming you have access to authentic Indian spices, I’m sure even a beginner cook can whip this up.

Boiled Egg Curry Recipe

Ingredients:

boiled eggs

potatoes

onions

garlic

tomatoes

indian spices (turmeric, coriander, masalas)

First, boil some eggs. Pretty easy.

Chop up some onion and garlic, as usual. I don’t think any dish our ayah ever cooked didn’t start with garlic and onions in oil.

Peel your boiled eggs and give them a little roll in some turmeric powder.

Now fry them briefly in oil. Just enough to give them a little texture.

Now throw your onions and garlic in your oil and give ’em a nice cooking.

I knew that I liked Indian food but we’ve become complete converts since arriving in Asia. I pretty much only cook Indian now. If you have the right spices most Indian recipes are really quite easy. I know we’re going to miss this stuff fiercely when we get back to the states. I’m going to have to find an Asian market so that I can find all the ingredients to make my favorite dishes.

Chutney is one of the many things I couldn’t believe I hadn’t properly encountered before visiting South Asia.

Green chutney, or coriander chutney, is so easy to make. It doesn’t even count as cooking, it’s that easy. But its definitely something you need in your life. Especially if you’ve mastered making those parathas. :)

If you’re looking for authentic Indian recipes, one thing that you absolutely need in your arsenal is a good dal recipe.

There are so many, wonderful variations of beans in India. Dal, or lentils, come in a rainbow of colors. Literally, you could easily find a dozen different hues of lentils. I’m pretty sure in a typical American grocery store you’ll only find one or two. So sad. If you can’t find red lentils in your area, check amazon.

Before traveling to India I heard a lot about Indias love affair with lentils and I thought it sounded bland and disappointing. I had experimented with lentils a time or two in my American kitchen and was not impressed. Clearly I just didn’t know what I was doing. Now red lentils are our favorite kind of dal and we have it regularly.

Authentic Indian Dal Recipe

Like all good Indian recipes, we start with chopped onions and garlic cooking in a bit of oil. Cook these until they’re lovely and golden. Optional: dice a tomato and give it a little cooking, too.

Add a teaspoon of salt and coriander powder.

Add half a teaspoon of turmeric and “kitchen king” powder, if available. Once again, head to amazon.

(I’m not sure if Kitchen King can be found in the states. Maybe in an Asian market? It’s a popular spice blend in Northern India. If you’re feeling reeeeallly ambitious, here’s a homemade kitchen king recipe.)

Oil, onions, garlic, and spices simmering nicely.

Now add roughly two cups of red lentils (or any other lentils you can get your hands on). Let your dry lentils cook in your oily spice mixture for a couple of minutes.

Now add two bowls (?) of water. I’m guessing that’s somewhere between 2 and 4 cups.

Now, pressure cookers are commonly used here. Two whistled will do you. Google tells me that traditional stove top methods would involve cooking lentils for around half an hour. I really don’t think you can mess this up. We’re not looking for firm lentils here, we want them to be lovely, delicious mush. Red lentils lend themselves to soupiness.

And VIOLA. Serve over rice.

You’ll never believe that a lentil could pack so much flavor. Like I said, these are our favorite. We eat them at least once a week and all four kids love them. Oh man. I am so craving lal dal (red lentils) now!

Have you had unimpressive lentil encounters before? Or do you already know the loveliness of the lentil?